The present invention relates to an electric vehicle such as battery-powered forklift truck.
A battery-powered forklift truck is disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-357498. The battery-powered forklift truck includes a battery unit which is mounted on and removed from the vehicle frame by sliding, a battery stopper which stops the battery unit from sliding out of a battery compartment, a cable connector which is provided at one end of a power cable extending from the battery unit, and a frame connector which is provided in the vehicle frame and to which the cable connector is connected. The battery stopper is pivotally mounted to the vehicle frame. The battery stopper is pivotable between the closed position where the battery unit is stopped from sliding out of the battery compartment and the open position where the battery unit is slidable out of the battery compartment. When the battery stopper is in the closed position, the battery stopper is prevented from pivoting by a locking pin. The locking pin is rendered inoperable by a restriction member provided on the cable connector. Therefore, the locking pin cannot be released unless the cable connector is removed from the frame connector. The battery unit is prevented from sliding out of the battery compartment of the vehicle frame in the event when removing the cable connector from the frame connector is neglected. Thus, the power cable is prevented from being damaged due to the slide.
An automatic guided vehicle is disclosed by Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-137459, which includes a pin that is movable in and out of a frame connector, a stopper that is movable in and out of the vehicle frame, and an interlock mechanism that interlocks the operation of the pin and the stopper. When a cable connector is connected to the frame connector, the pin is pushed into the frame connector by the cable connector. In conjunction with such movement of the pin, the stopper is moved out toward the battery unit thereby to prevent the battery unit from being dropped out of the vehicle frame.
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-357498, however, the cable connector is connectable to the frame connector with the battery stopper placed in the open position. In this case, the forklift truck may be driven to run with the battery stopper placed in the open position, with a fear that the battery unit may be dropped out of the vehicle frame. Although the automatic guided vehicle of Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-137459 has no such fear, the vehicle requires a large number of parts, which makes the structure of the vehicle complicated.
The present invention is directed to an electric vehicle which is prevented from running with the battery stopper placed in the open position and is simple in structure.